Sunday, July 5: NH: More Scrabble

It was a fully packed NH Sunday. In the morning, we all drove to West Lebanon for some shopping. We passed through Plainfield en route and were excited to see that the rummage sales we'd gone to yesterday had become EVERYTHING IS FREE sales. Of course we pulled over. Andrew picked up a bushel basket, and we found a plastic bench that, once cleaned up, will be perfect for sitting by the pond. I also chose a swan-shaped vessel (pen holder?) that I'd eyed yesterday but hadn't purchased. 

Then we went to Books-a-Million (books for Greta), Newbury Comics (Tokidoki blind boxes for both girls), TJ Maxx (clothes for the kids, kitchen stuff for me and Andrew), and Walmart (random uninteresting things like cleaning spray and hairbands).

Andrew made us all egg sandwiches for lunch, and then the kids headed for the pond. I read pondside. Then we all read in our hammocks for an hour and a half, until Lucia herded us inside for a game of Scrabble. She has become immediately obsessed with Scrabble. I could have sworn we'd played with the kids before (we play lots of games), but they swear we had not. She beat me by one point to win. Andrew and I have been playing Scrabble on this very board since the very first time he brought me to NH. We used to play by candlelight at the dining room table before we had kids. Andrew's family also played on this board; cousins continue to play. The scoring sheets from many, many old games remain in the box, games he played with his grandmother, games his parents and grandmother played. Like every other thing here, Scrabble is a time capsule.

Tonight we had our annual Fried Dinner, one of our favorites, which we'd saved until the heat wave passed. Today was much cooler, so Andrew was able to stand at the hot stove with pans of boiling oil with comparative comfort. We fried chicken strips, eggplant, zucchini, onion rings, and pickle slices. All delicious. 

Afterward, Andrew and I took Farrah on a little walk up the road, and then we sat by the firepit until it got dark. We all watched a bit of the World Cup game until the kids went upstairs and I fell asleep on the couch and then went upstairs. (Andrew continued to watch.) Lucia tried unsuccessfully to get us to play Scrabble WHILE watching soccer.

We couldn't have fit in even one more thing today. 

What We're Reading (I forgot this for the past few days):

Margo: finished Whistler by Ann Patchett; reread about a third because I loved it so much; now reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (one of the kids' favorite books that they've been begging me to read)

Andrew: finished Thirteen Perfect Fugitives; started My First New York (essay collection)

Lucia: finished The Ascended tonight; is choosing her next book

Greta: finished The Little Friend; started and finished Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth; not sure what she's choosing next